Patients who spend extended periods of time in medical facilities in the prone or sitting position often experience extreme discomfort either from the medical procedures conducted on them or the length of stay necessitated by their medical conditions. This discomfort is oftentimes lessened by the introduction of pillows to support the body at strategic points. The current state of the art for medical professionals is to utilize numerous flat pillows placed at the point of need. In order to effectuate this practice the medical professionals must roll, twist and fold flat pillows and place them at the strategic locations to alleviate the suffering.
The aforementioned procedure of utilizing numerous pillows results in significant labor expense, storage expense and equipment expense in connection with providing this necessary procedure.
In order to support the body the medical professional generally must use four to six pillows. In addition, every pillow used by a patient must be purchased by the patient. Therefore, the patient must use and purchase numerous pillows for this procedure. The Lateral Body Supporting Pillow is designed to replace the necessity of using numerous pillows. As a result, the cost of the Lateral Body Supporting Pillow versus the cost of the number of pillows necessary under the conventional method is smaller. Therefore, patient and medical providers experience cost savings in connection with the equipment expense.
Under the conventional method, the medical provider must roll, twist or fold the pillow in order to support the body. The time required to perform this act multiplied by the number of pillows is substantial. Furthermore, the pillows oftentimes unroll upon the patient's movements, thereby requiring additional time by the medical professional to reroll, re-twist and refold the flat pillows. The Lateral Body Supporting Pillow does not need to be rolled, twisted or folded in order to provide the desired support as it is already formed to provide the support. Therefore, use of the Lateral Body Supporting Pillow eliminates significant time expense by medical professionals in the course of this procedure.
Due to the patient's requirement of this number of pillows, the medical provider must dedicate substantial storage space to store these pillows. The Lateral Body Supporting Pillow alleviates the need for this amount of storage space by replacing the six pillows with one. The Lateral Body Supporting Pillow contains less volume than the equivalent number of flat pillows necessary to provide the support. Furthermore, the present embodiment folds easily and retains its shape after being folded. Therefore, the present embodiment lessens the necessity of dedicating critical storage space in order to meet the needs of a medical provider's patients.
In addition to providing comfort to the patient, the present embodiment provides comfort and support to visitors during the patient's stay. Specifically, the visitor will spend substantial amounts of time in the sitting position while visiting the patient. The present invention provides comfort and support for the visitor by providing added support in the chair which the visitor uses while visiting. The visitor will also use the chair, although not designed for such use, in which to sleep. The present embodiment provides added support of the visitor for the neck, head, and side region of the body, thereby creating a more hospitable environment in which to sleep. The present invention alleviates the discomfort for both the visitor and the patient by providing support in the neck region, the shoulder regions, the sides and the hips.
In addition to supporting the patient's body for comfort, the Lateral Body Supporting Pillow may be used in connection with therapy provided to paralyzed patients. The Lateral Body Supporting Pillow may be used to support and hold the patient in a certain position while a medical professional conducts therapy on the patient.
The Lateral Body Supporting Pillow may be used to assist the support of the aged while utilizing a wheel chair or otherwise. A wheel chair is not designed for comfort but rather for utilitarian reasons. As a result, the chair provides little padding or support in aged areas of need. The Lateral Body Supporting Pillow may be used to support the neck, shoulders and head while simultaneously cushioning the older patient's bones against the hard surfaces of the wheel chair.
This present embodiment forgoes the necessity of using numerous flat pillows to provide the support desired. The Lateral Body Supporting Pillow further alleviates the necessity of time in order to roll, mold and conform flat pillows to the desired thickness and firmness. Instead the Lateral Body Supporting Pillow is integral in design to provide support in all desired areas without the necessity of using numerous pillows. Furthermore, the Lateral Body Supporting Pillow is designed for adequate firmness and thickness. The current embodiment cures the problem described above and has been demonstrated to reduce time, labor, storage and equipment expenses by replacing the conventional method using multiple flat pillows.